(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the structure of a disk driver holder opening and cover plate at the surface panel of a computer, and particularly a design of joining system for the disk driver holder opening and cover plate, and a structure to permit firmly fitting the disk driver.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
Generally there are two or three disk driver holder openings on each computer surface panel, and all unused disk driver holder openings on it are usually covered by cover plates so that the nice appearance of the surface panel is not damaged. Therefore, the cover plate must be easy to remove or install, and it must have a size corresponding to the size of disk driver holder opening so that the nice appearance of the surface panel is not affected. Conventionally, there are three kinds of configurations for a disk driver holder opening and cover plate at the surface panel, as follows:
(1) Lock-in Type Cover Plate: There is a hole at each lateral lug (11) on each cover plate (1), as shown in FIG. 1, and there are corresponding screw holes (21) at posts on edges of each disk driver holder opening at each surface panel (2) so that the cover plate (1) can be locked to the surface panel (2) by bolts (12). In this design, though no extra gap will exist after installation of the disk driver, removal of the cover plate (1) is labor and time consuming for it is necessary to remove the surface panel first before the bolts (12) can be loosened for removal of the cover plate (1).
(2) Reverse Hooking Type Cover Plate: As shown in FIG. 2, the prevailing configuration at the present time, there is a hook (13) extending outwards from each lateral side of a cover plate (1) for seizure by a frame (22) of a disk driver holder opening at a surface panel (2) so as the cover plate (1) is prevented from outward displacement by the hooks (13), and a stepped portion (23) is formed between the edge of the cover plate (1) and the frame (22) to prevent from inward displacement of the cover plate (1). With such a design, an outward projection of the frame (22) is left after installation of the disk driver, and consequently a relatively large gap (15) exists at the stepped portion (23) damages the appearance of the surface panel (2), and requires highly precise and complicated tooling. Hence, production cost of such surface, panel is high, and the output of defective products is also high.
(3) Lock-in Disk Driver Frame: As shown in FIG. 3, a long lug (16) is extended from the back of each lateral side of a cover plate (1) and a disk driver frame (3) with corresponding holes so as the cover plate (1) is fixed to a surface panel (2) by bolts (17) from inner side of the disk drive frame (3) to the lugs (16). With such a design, though gap between disk driver and the disk driver frame (3) can be minimized, the long lugs (16) can break easily, packing of which is difficult, it is not easy to keep the cover plate (1) flush with the surface panel (2) after installation, and it is inconvenient to install or remove the cover plate (1) since tightening or loosening of bolts (17) is required.